Biography

"The soul is not digital."

Lara Porzak is an American photographer living and working in Los Angeles. She exclusively works with analog methods, carefully curated to convey the emotion she wishes to express. Her cameras and developing techniques, requiring great technical mastery, date back to the 19th century (tintypes, gelatin silver lith, wet collodion...).

 

The artist is particularly attached to the materiality of "handmade" photography and seeks to bring out its original magnetism. She poetically captures universal subjects, such as landscapes, revealing their timeless nature. Likewise, she plays on the ambiguity between abstraction and figuration through her practice of soft focus and deliberately expressive tintypes, evoking distant and ever longing imprints of beauty. As the Los Angeles Times aptly described it, "her photojournalistic style combines with the romantic influences of European photographers from the 1930s and 1940s to give her work a timeless quality with a strong sense of narrative”. Her photographs have notably joined the J. Paul Getty Museum collections.

Works
  • Lara Porzak, Billi Bird, 2011
    Billi Bird, 2011
  • Lara Porzak, Big Sur, 2017
    Big Sur, 2017
  • Lara Porzak, Flutterby, 2014
    Flutterby, 2014
  • Lara Porzak, Laurel Canyon Palm, 2015
    Laurel Canyon Palm, 2015
  • Lara Porzak, Morpho, 2014
    Morpho, 2014
  • Lara Porzak, Storm, 2016
    Storm, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Tiger Eyes, 2016
    Tiger Eyes, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Copper Glow, Lake Study, 2019
    Copper Glow, Lake Study, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Desert Varnish, Lake Study, 2019
    Desert Varnish, Lake Study, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Beauty from the Rain, 2019
    Beauty from the Rain, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Wild, Outer Banks, N.C, 2010
    Wild, Outer Banks, N.C, 2010
  • Lara Porzak, Spaceless Yosemite (Collodion Yosemite in Winter), 2009
    Spaceless Yosemite (Collodion Yosemite in Winter), 2009
  • Lara Porzak, Lake Powell, 2014
    Lake Powell, 2014
  • Lara Porzak, Bucephalus, The Camargue, 2002
    Bucephalus, The Camargue, 2002
  • Lara Porzak, Alien Land, 2013
    Alien Land, 2013
  • Lara Porzak, The Place for Young Spirits - On the Road R.F.N., 2004
    The Place for Young Spirits - On the Road R.F.N., 2004
  • Lara Porzak, Butterfly Impression, 2016
    Butterfly Impression, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Seagull, 2014
    Seagull, 2014
  • Lara Porzak, Collodion Chrysalis, 2016
    Collodion Chrysalis, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Quiet Lake, 2019
    Quiet Lake, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Kentucky Road, 2004
    Kentucky Road, 2004
  • Lara Porzak, Mustard Jars, 2016
    Mustard Jars, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Fog 12, 2020
    Fog 12, 2020
  • Lara Porzak, Route 395, 2016
    Route 395, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Angel, 2020
    Angel, 2020
  • Lara Porzak, Silver Wing Tintype, 2020
    Silver Wing Tintype, 2020
  • Lara Porzak, Lightning, 2015
    Lightning, 2015
  • Lara Porzak, Swallowtail's Flight
    Swallowtail's Flight
  • Lara Porzak, Lilies, 2023
    Lilies, 2023
  • Lara Porzak, Properties of Thirst, 2024
    Properties of Thirst, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Copper Glow, 2024
    Copper Glow, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Peonies 3, 2024
    Peonies 3, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Momma's Humingbird, 2024
    Momma's Humingbird, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Screech Owl, 2024
    Screech Owl, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Almond Blossoms I, 2024
    Almond Blossoms I, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, She/her, 2024
    She/her, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Secret Cove, British Colombia, 2024
    Secret Cove, British Colombia, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Gesturing Tulip, 2024
    Gesturing Tulip, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Barn Owl, 2019
    Barn Owl, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, “Pinwheel”, 2024
    “Pinwheel”, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Arched Oak, Santa Ynez, 2023
    Arched Oak, Santa Ynez, 2023
  • Lara Porzak, We the People, Grand Canyon, 2024
    We the People, Grand Canyon, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Dahlia, 2024
    Dahlia, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Atlas Moth, 2015
    Atlas Moth, 2015
  • Lara Porzak, Flair, 2013
    Flair, 2013
  • Lara Porzak, Single Peony, 2019
    Single Peony, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Gwen's Flowers, 2019
    Gwen's Flowers, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Moon Glow, 2016
    Moon Glow, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Hail, Mount Wilson, 2021
    Hail, Mount Wilson, 2021
  • Lara Porzak, Drooping Tulip, 2020
    Drooping Tulip, 2020
  • Lara Porzak, Past, present, future, 2021
    Past, present, future, 2021
  • Lara Porzak, Indigo Moon (aka Queen of the Moon), 2023
    Indigo Moon (aka Queen of the Moon), 2023
  • Lara Porzak, Tuberoses, 2020
Exhibitions
Video